The Institute of Higher Education
Policy and the Lumina Foundation
have funded a grant to assist
institutions in identifying former
students who have invested time and
money into college, but left before
completing their degree.

Project Win-Win, a program
that the University of Wisconsin-
Stevens Point incorporates, uses
data collecting techniques to track
down people who have dropped out
or left college early, while meeting
credentials for an associate degree.

“Project Win-Win is really aptly
named because it represents a very
good thing for both the institution
and for those students who have
benefited by receiving the associate
degrees they earned. As an
institution, UW-Stevens Point wants
to see our students benefit from their
experiences here,” said Provost Greg
Summers.

Project Win-Win works with
64 colleges and universities in nine
U.S. states. Colleges and institutions
conduct a database analysis to remove
students who have transferred and
graduated somewhere else. The
remaining students are checked
to see if they are eligible for an​associate degree or if they are close
to completion. Students are then
contacted and awarded an associate
degree or given information on how
to complete their degree.

The study ran from October
2010 through August 2013. Other
universities in Wisconsin that
participated were UW-Platteville,
UW-Green Bay and the UW College
System.

“On May 19, 2012, UWSP
awarded 143 associate degrees
at the spring Commencement
Ceremony,” said Dan Kellogg, the
registrar at UWSP. “Travis Turauski,
a commercial roofer from Wisconsin,
and Jordan Zimmermann, a starting
pitcher for the Washington Nationals,
were among the people to receive a
degree.”

Over the last three years, Project
Win-Win has helped more than 4200
college dropout students receive
an associate degree and over 800
potential students returned to school
to complete their degree.

“Our primary mission is to help
students earn their bachelors degrees,
but certainly if we have students
leave for some reason we want to
ensure that they receive the associate
degree if they have earned the credits
to do so,” Summers said. “If they are
close to earning this credential, we want to be sure they are aware of this
possibility and how important it may
be to their future success, whether
that success comes from getting a job
or returning someday to go on for a
bachelors degree.”

Kellogg took the time to look
through student records from fall
2000 to spring 2010 in order to locate
students who were qualified to
receive an associate degree and for
students who were near completion.

Kellogg had some trouble trying
to locate students because many of
them have moved around over the
years or have gotten married and
changed their last names.

“The opportunity to notify a
student that our files show they are
eligible for an associate’s degree has
been a great. It has been a win-win
for the student, and a win-win for the
university,” Kellogg said.

Kellogg thinks that both four-
year institutions and community
colleges should re-evaluate their
policies for earning an associate
degree and determine if they have
created requirements that hinder the
process for students that drop out or
transfer.

“I’m not sure it’s right for every
university, but it’s certainly a good
fit for our mission and the students
we serve at UW-Stevens Point,” Summers said.

The university is now considering steps on how to use the concept of
Project Win-Win to contact students
who have left the university and
whose academic records also qualify
them for an associate degree on an
annual basis.

“I have asked our Academic Affairs
Committee in the Faculty Senate to
consider how best to institutionalize
this effort so that it becomes a
permanent aspect of our offerings.
This will involve improvements in
how to advise students about the
possibility of earning an associate
degree, especially those students
who leave or consider leaving the
university,” Summers said.

The effort will also involve
decisions about how and when to
contact students who have left and
might consider coming back for
the handful of credits they need to
complete their associate degree.

“We’re very happy to have
participated in Project Win-Win as
a pilot institution. The success we
demonstrated has been influential as
other UW campuses around the state
consider their own participation in
the program,” Summers said.